It is not just NASCAR that is having problems selling out the venues, it includes the National Football League.  This past weekend three of the four home playoff teams were given extensions to sale tickets to avoid a playoff blackout.  The government tells how well the economy is improving, but is it?  There are people not attending events because they can no longer afford it.  It is common knowledge the United States suffered a recession in 2008, but have we recovered?  It does not appear that way.

Prior to 2008, NFL stadiums were all full, tracks holding NASCAR tracks did not have empty seats.  What happened, even this year with the Kansas City Chiefs fielding a competitive team, there were tickets available.  Is it time for sports venues to look at their prices and maybe, taking from Walmart, roll back their prices?  Wishful thinking, I am sure, but buying a powerball ticket creates wishful thinking if only until the drawing.

What we will probably see is what is occurring at Daytona International Speedway.  The backstraight seats are being removed and because the seats are newer they are being relocated to the front straight and of course sold to everyone as new seats.  This business philosophy is simply to reduce seating and give the appearance the place is full.  Margaritas, the restaurant, utilizes this same philosophy, by having to wait on Taco Tuesday for a seat they may sell you a drink, or at the very least the appearance is the food is very good because so many people want to get in.

The real issue is people just do not have the discretionary income they had prior to 2008.  That means they need to change their philosophy, adopt the philosophy of the airlines several years back where it was actually cheap to fly.  The airlines philosophy was sell the seat an empty seat makes no money.  For the last several years the seats on the backstraight at Daytona were sold this way, $55 to attend the Daytona 500, removing the seats means eventually the track will think they can raise the price on the front straight.  This is not beneficial to growing the sport.  We need new fans in the stands, not raising the price on old fans who as they get older will retire and make decisions about less discretionary income.  Unfortunately, this appears to be the way the current sports leadership is leading.

So before we lose our sports because of greed, I would suggest the sports leadership look at rolling back the prices and for those in the sport making the money that will mean rolling back some of your profits, some of your earnings, some of your winnings.